Tuesday, July 29, 2008

www.80stees.com is producing a line of JLA themed hoodies. These hoodies replicate the torso region of the respective hero's costume, making it look rather like you're wearing Superman's shirt, etc.

Unfortunately, the Aquaman hoodie has been cancelled! Rob talked to the president of the company, who told him that there had been so few pre-orders for Arthur's torso, they'd decided not to produce it!

We cannot let this stand people! Go on over to It's a Cold Day in Atlantis and sign up for the campaign to save Aquaman's hoodie! 80's Tees has informed us that if we can get 150-200 pre-orders, they'll produce the item.

Go over there and show your support for the King of the Seven Seas today!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Synopsis: Dinah surprises Ollie in bed with a birthday cake and card. Ollie grouses about his age (44) but makes a birthday wish regardless. Anyone who's ever read any Green Arrow before can probably guess what he wished for...

Dinah leaves the planning to llie for the day, as it is his birthday. Ollie chooses to go to the zoo, where they enjoy a day filled with exotic animals and chili dogs. After a while, they notice that they're being followed by a pair of suits...

The pair ambush their pursuers, who turn out to be Eddie Fyers and an anonymous CIA agent. While Dinah and Eddie spar in the background, the CIA mook tells a story about how the Phillipino government buried the nationl treaury in secure locations during WWII. A map to the treaure troves was recently discovered, and then stolen.

Coincidentally, known agents of the Yakuza have been uying up property in the Phillipines, ostensibly to build hotels, but for some reason they never get past the excavation phase... But recently, the excavations have come to an abrupt stop. Rumor is, a certain lady with a dragon tatoo has stolen the only copy of the map.

The agent demands that Ollie, who knows Shado best, track her down, or he'll turn him in for tax evasion of the income from his mission in the first few issues. Ollie reculantly agrees, tracking Shado down to Honolulu, and then to a houseboat. Just as Ollie is approaches the boat, he ends up with an arrow in the chest! THE END

Thoughts: Another neat issue, with some really sweet action involving Shado and her attackers. Its also kind of nice to see Ollie get in hot water for the shady mission he performed earlier in the series. The CIA agent also points out that Ollie's mask does very little to hide his ID, and the only real reason no one has figured it out until now is that no one knew to try. I'm a big fan of little bits of realism like that.

Friday, July 25, 2008

So last night, I was sitting in my recliner, casting around for something to do, when my nerdy little eyes caught of a glimpse of one of the books I picked at up Heroescon last month, the first issue of Prez.

So, lacking anything better to do, I read it...

Holy crap folks, Prez is the weirdest, most out there comic I've read in a long time. The basic premise is that with 18 year olds gaining the vote in an age where they made up a large chunk of the population, a great many teenagers would be elected to Congress (in this world, the law lowered the age limit on office holders as well).

Looking for a dupe to retain his power, uber-corrupt political hack Boss Smiley (literally, a guy with a smiley-face head) recruits young Prez Rickard to run for senate.

Prez, an 18 year old from Steadyton (where there are hundreds of clocks, none of which agree) lives with his mother and sister, and enjoys racing his hotrod "Lolipop" and fixing things. One day, tiring of nothing getting done in town because no one knows what time it is, Prez fixes every clock in town. This garners him a certain amount of fame, fame which Boss Smiley is determined to use.

Boss Smiley, ever the entrepreneur, wants to demolish the last stand of unspoiled forest in the country to build s superhighway to Steadyton. He's also planning to demolish the local dam, both to clear the forest and to reap the profits when his construction company "happens" to get the contracts to rebuild the dam and any other buildings destroyed in the flood.

During the "blow stuff up" ceremony, Prez and the crew is attacked by a young Native American and his menagerie of forest creatures (and elephants, and gorillas, and giraffes, for some reason). The creatures demolish the construction equipment, then retreat. prez follows them, and has a long conversation with the young brave about Boss Smiley and his rampant courruption. He also learns to communicate with animals and some sort of animal kung fu, while he's at it.

Now determined to bring Boss Smiley down, Prez and Eagle Free break into Boss Smiley's offices and steal documents proving his corruption (why Boss Smiley keeps paperwork on his bribes and racketeering is anybody's guess). Now famous and beloved, Prez wins the next presidential election in a landslide (on a flower power ticket, no less). he then appoints Eagle Free head of the FBI, his mother as Vice President, and his sister as his personal secretary...

And all that happened in the first issue! Unfortunately, that was only one of 4, but that just makes it easier to collect! Seriously folks, you have to check this out, its totally nuts!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Synopsis:Dinah and Ollie have spent a year in Seattle, and the place is starting to feel like home. ON the way back to their apartment, Dinah asks Ollie if he ever thinks about "her." He denies it, but the fact that he knew who she was talking about proves him a liar.

As Ollie lies in bed, he can't stop thinking about what he had to do to rescue Dinah the previous year, and that draws his thoughts back to the other person who was there: Shado.

We then cut to Shado, as she reports in to her Yakuza masters. She has killed everyone she was tasked with, except for one...the one that Ollie killed.

The "Oyibun" is not happy with Shado, for she has violated his orders by allowing another to kill one of her targets. First, he demands a demonstration of her abilities. She obliges, firing an arrow at her master's chest, which is stopped by a swinging pendant.

He then demands her prized jade ring...and the thumb that she wears it on. Unwilling to let his best student be ruined for petty reasons, the master holds off the Yakuza guards long enough for Shado to run away. She stops and looks back, witnessing the Oyibun execute her master. In response, she put an arrow through his skull, then leaves...

Thoughts: This was a surprisingly GA-lite issue. He appeared in only a few panels, with most of the action focusing on Shado and her dealings with the Japanese Mafia. Still a good issue, though, with Ollie haunted by the fact that he took a life, and Shado facing the consequences for letting him. Good stuff!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

(Recommendation Arrow is an occasional feature we run here at the Arrowcave, where I will recommend older, more obscure series that I enjoy)

It is 2069, and Earth is in trouble. The human race has been conquered by the Horde, a race of interstellar scavengers who steal resources, slaves and technology from their victims, doing little if any work besides the conquering itself. Even their ships and weapons were stolen from other species. In fact, they have to keep moving from system to system because they have no idea how to maintain the technology they steal.

Fortunately (sort of) for Earth, the Horde do not conquer the humans in the traditional sense. Instead, they destroy Earth's military might, then conduct sporadic raids for supplies and slaves. This leaves most areas of Earth functional and able to operate normally.

Unfortunately, none of Earth's weapons have proven a match for the Horde. In desperation, the Padeia, Earth's ruling body, turns to a scientist named Dr. Tuolema and his Morituri Process. The experimental Morituri Process grants superhuman powers to those who undergo it, granting humanity a chance to strike back at the Horde.

Again, unfortunately, the Process is not without drawbacks. Only a small percentage of the population is compatible with the process, and only those between the ages of 18-21 have much chance of surviving. Secondly, and most disturbingly, the process has a 100% fatality rate, hence the name (Morituri, roughly translated from Latin: "About to Die"). Approximately one year after undergoing the process, the subject will reject the treatment and explode. Yes, explode.

Despite the obvious drawbacks, the terror and destruction inflicted by the Horde on the human race means that there is no shortage of volunteers. The comic itself follows the adventures of the second batch of recruits to the program (the first having died in a blaze of glory while killing the Horde commander of Earth). Don't get used to these guys, though. The volatile nature of the Process means the cast turnover is quite high. In fact, one of the point of view characters dies in the fourth issue. This might seem like a drawback for fans used to years and years of the same character, but the book makes you feel for these characters, who accepted certain death in exchange for a chance to save humanity.

The series ran for 31 issues, from '86 to '89. There was a follow up miniseries a couple years later called Electric Undertow.

As far as I know, these issues have never been collected anywhere, but they make for an excellent read, and can be found in discount bins everywhere.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Every 4 months or so, Atlanta is host to the Atlanta Comic Convention, a smallish, one-day show in the outskirts of the city. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this con. Their website is very 90's, the location wasn't exactly glamorous, and hey, its a one day show!

In this case, I'm very glad to be proven wrong. While the show really wasn't that large (it filled up a hotel ballroom) it had a large number of quality dealers. In fact, I found out about a new shop, called The Book Nook, not too far from my place. Their booth had a great selection, so I'm anxious to check them out.

Now, as far as my acquisitions...I got a TON of books. The great thing is, most of the dealers there had discount bins. I didn't buy a single issue for more than $.50! I was also shopping for ljacone, so he got some books out of the deal as well.

Marvel

Doctor Strange: Not much for the Sorcerer Supreme this time out, I found only a single issue, 87 of Vol. 3. The issues I need are all towards the end of the series, when print runs were small, so its going to be slow going from here.

Moon Knight: I made a little progress in my quest to own every single Moon Knight book in existence. My acquisition of issues 3, 6, 8, 32, and 35 of vol. 2 and issues 1 and 2 of the Fist of Khonshu miniseries get me within a hairsbreadth of succeeding.

Defenders: I inched closer to completing my run on this series with issues 119 and 128. Unfortunately, all the issues I need to finish my run are from the first 15 issues, which cost a pretty penny no matter how you look at it. Luckily, those issues are covered by Essential Defenders vol.1, which I own. At least I can start reading the series right from the beginning now!

Submariner: Only two issues for Subbie, issue #3 of his 80's miniseries, plus 26 of his 90's ongoing.

Jemm, Son of Saturn: In honor of poor, poor Martian Manhunter, I grabbed more issues starring the last member of his sister race, Jemm! Issues 1 and 4 were pruchased in tribute.

Blue Devil: Just one issue of Blue Devil this time, number 17. I could have sworn I got more, but I guess I was imagining things.

Firestorm: Not nearly as much Ronnie Raymond action at this show, but I did get a few things, namly issues 17, 31, 48, 59, and 60 of the second ongoing.

Who's Who: Wow, I never expected such a bounty of information! There were tons of issues of Who's Who running around for some reason. I got 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, and several issues of the later updates. Info ahoy!

Random Stuff: Only a few utterly random issues found there way to me at the show. I got issues 6-11 of the Marvel Doctor Who series, which should be interesting. I picked up a couple random issues of the original Marvel Transformers as well. Who doesn't like giant robots?

And now, of course, we come to our favorite Emerald Archer, Green Arrow!

I also grabbed Secret Origins #38, detailed the secret origins of both GA and Speedy.

And of course, there's the one that got away. As I was sitting down, looking through the $.50 bins at the Book Nook booth, someone came up and asked if they had a copy of Green Arrow 101 (where Ollie gets blowed up). They did. For cheap. I never thought to ask, and that was their only one. ::sigh::

Overall, the show was really impressive for a small, one day affair. I also had the pleasure to meet Scott, other wise known as New Fun #6 on the CGS forums, and his son (whose name I'm terribly rude in not remembering). They were great company, and I'm glad we finally got to meet!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Synopsis: As Ollie arrives in Anchorage, he finally gets a chance to investigate the strange powder he found in Dinah's trunk. He tastes it and determines that its not coke, but he still has no idea what it might be.

Climbing back in the trunk, he hitches a ride to a chop shop, where the stolen cars are repainted (Dinah's gets painted yellow!). He sticks around long enough to trail one of the mechanics to a bar, where he captures him and takes him tp the police.

Larry, the mechanic, spills what he knows, which isn't much. Whatever the powder is, it is to be transported to "the meet-up" very soon. Ollie and the police figure out that there's a Tong connection to this mess. The car theft ring transports the goods, its the Tong who profit.

Ollie and the cops finally figure out how the meet-up will occur: namely that one of the sledders competing in the Iditarod is transporting the goods, and he'll meet up with his clients out on an isolated bit of Tundra.

Ollie, a customs officer, and the police ambush the meet-up, capturing everyone there. It turns out the strange powder at the center of the story is powdered rhinoceros horn, which fetches a pretty price in China.

With everyone under arrest, Ollie wonders what will happen to the sled dogs. There's no room for them in the chopper, so Ollie volunteers to take them back. MUSH!

Thoughts: From the surprise McGuffin to the site of Ollie running a dog sled team, there's a lot to get excited about. I like that for the most part, Ollie was using his brain here. He only fires a few arrows, mostly relying on his wit and deductive skills. That's a side of Ollie that I feel is important and often overlooked.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

With Speedy and the Dodger facing off against the League of Assassins alone, things are looking grim. Until, that is, they're assisted by the Caped Crusader himself! Ra's al Ghul's involvement in Connor's assault and kidnapping will finally be revealed!

Also coming out this week:

Final Crisis: Requiem

The Justice League (and me too!) mourn the passing of one of their greatest, while at the same time attempting to carry out his final wish.

Tiny Titans #6

You know who doesn't love this series? Communists and sticks in the mud, that's who! Keep an eye out for appearances by former GA sidekick Speedy, as well as cameo appearances by the Emerald Archer himself!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Loyal readers! Your humble correspondent apparently has too much time on his hands, so he decided to be a little creative with the mini-prints he got at Heroescon! You may remember those from a previous post, and honestly I had no idea what I was going to do with them. They were really cool and all, but they weren't exactly the most practical things in the world. Well, I got inspired last week, made a few purchases, did a little work and now I'm ready to unviel the fruits of my labors. Behold, a homemade set of superhero refrigerator magnets!

Now, some of these characters may have been made into magnets before, but I'm pretty sure I now possess the world's only Black Manta refrigerator magnet! ;)